


Out of his Depth

by greerwatson



Series: ITOWverse: Swim Challenge [5]
Category: RENAULT Mary - Works
Genre: Gen, ITOWverse, Metafiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-31
Updated: 2010-08-31
Packaged: 2018-05-19 21:01:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5980795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greerwatson/pseuds/greerwatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The young son of Alexander the Great escapes his nurses to visit the ITOWverse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of his Depth

**Author's Note:**

> This series was written for the 2010 Summer Challenge on the [maryrenaultfics](http://maryrenaultfics.livejournal.com/) LiveJournal community, to the prompt “swim”.

He was a very _little_ boy; but he had been a King before he was even born—and it was not something you could forget.  (No one ever let him forget.)  He was the hope of the Persians, and not a few of the Macedonians for his father’s sake; and factions swam around him before he was old enough to understand what they were.  He grew up breathing intrigue as easily as air; and he knew his mother to be hated.  It gave him something in common with the father who had died before his birth.

The Greeks at court made sure he would never be entirely Persian.  He heard about his Father, the Great Alexander who was a god, as he heard tales from his nurses.  He was a bright boy—one should not say “for his age”—and he knew that the sons of gods were heroes.  Which meant, he supposed, that _he_ was a hero (or would be when he grew up).  To be the son of a god and a hero-to-be was rather a lot to live up to; but then, after all, he _was_ a King.

He was not supposed ever to have met his father, who had died before he was born.  Yet he had.  He cherished the memories, though he puzzled over them. 

It was _not_ a dream.  He had long since decided, though, that there was no point in telling anyone about it any more.  They simply smiled tolerantly in that way grown-ups had, and explained the truth they thought they saw behind his words—which was not _the_ truth, as the philosophers spoke of Truth.  He was old enough to know the difference, as well as hearing them debate when he was _there_.  (Besides, he was the one who had been _there_ , after all; and _he_ knew he had not been asleep.)

As for where _there_ might be….  Well, since his father was dead, it must have been Elysium.  That was properly the abode of heroes after death, of course; and Father was a god.  However, Hephaistion was not; and he was also dead; and Alexander had seen and heard enough of their friendship to guess that, if one of them was bound to Elysium, the other would be there with him.

Mortals did not visit Elysium in life (except maybe in sleep, and that _was_ dream); so he _did_ understand why no one believed him.  They forgot that he was the son of a god—which made him a hero—and, from all the stories, heroes could do things that other men might not.

Like escape from nurses, guards, and mothers.  In a rare moment when no one was looking, Alexander turned the corner between here and _there_ , and ran free across the grass.

**Author's Note:**

> The mysterious pond in this series is the summer development of the area of frozen ice that appeared in the Christmas ITOWverse series.


End file.
